It Simply Wasn’t Team’s Banner Day

The banners were talking Sunday afternoon. They weren’t taking the Lakers’ sweep at the hands of the Utah Jazz very well. It angered them to the very last thread of their golden fabric.

You look up at that first championship banner hanging on the southern wall of the Great Western Forum and see Jerry West. Magic Johnson orchestrated the hanging of the next five.

When they speak no other opinion matters. No player, coach, fan or journalist in the building could match their credentials, so theirs will be the only voices heard from here on out in the wake of that season-ending 96-92 loss Sunday.

With reporters gathered around in the Forum tunnels, Magic and West stepped up to Jim Hill’s microphone and unloaded on the 1997-98 squad, a team that did nothing to make the seamstresses work this summer.

They ripped the Lakers for being unprepared, then not doing anything to adapt to what Utah was doing, and whining about the officiating before, during and after the series. “What bothered me more than anything is that there were two or three games in this series when we didn’t even show up to play,” West said. “It’s hard to explain.”

The only Laker to do anything wall-worthy in this series was Shaquille O’Neal. His 38 points Sunday were another reason why his giant jersey will one day hang beside the retired uniform numbers of West, Johnson, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Gail Goodrich.

The rest of the team probably wishes they didn’t have their names stitched across their backs.

“We had a couple of players that should be embarrassed,” West said. “Players who are good players. We played with no confidence. We had guys that passed up shots that were unimaginable. There was no rhyme or reason to it. It was ridiculous.”

The players don’t like it when the ghosts of Lakers past loom over them. The guys weren’t trying to hear what Magic had to say when he was a coach in 1994 or when he was their teammate in 1996.

They need to listen to him. Those five banners are the reason why.

“I don’t mind if we lose 4-0,” Johnson said. “But I do mind that there wasn’t any urgency on this team.

“We played subdued. We came out today, we played subdued up until the second half. You can’t do that.”

It’s always been easy to tell Magic’s emotions by looking at his face. He was getting worked up, the frustration showing. In case there was any doubt, he said: “I’m really upset at this.”

A week and a day before, Johnson was standing outside the visitor’s locker room in Salt Lake City, as giddy as every other Laker lover about the team’s performance in the conference semifinals against Seattle.

“We are playing the basketball that everybody hoped one day we would play,” he said that day.

Then came the Debacle by the Tabernacle in Game 1, fourth-quarter breakdowns in Games 2 and 3 and another non-performance throughout most of Game 4. Facing their last game of the season, when most teams come out with all of their fury, the Lakers posted 18 points in the first quarter. They followed with 39 points over the next two quarters.

If only they played the entire series the way they played the fourth quarter, no one would have reason to complain.

There were aggressive dunks by O’Neal and Eddie Jones. Steals and fast breaks. Patience on offense, clearing space and isolating O’Neal and his defender, then getting him the ball in deep. Kobe Bryant breaking his man down off the dribble. Shaq even made seven of 10 free throws over a 2 1/2 minute stretch.

The Lakers scored 35 points in the quarter and they forced Utah’s Dream Teamers to beat them for a change instead of losing to players no one will remember in five years. There’s no shame in being outplayed by Karl Malone and John Stockton, and the future Hall of Famers combined to score 18 of Utah’s final 20 points.

It was the only time this series the Lakers could say they gave it their best shot. Just when the season was looking as it would be a complete waste, the Lakers gave a glimmer of hope that they can reach their potential.

They have teased and disappointed throughout this season and playoffs.

“Which way are we going to go now?” Johnson said. “Are the guys going to understand that athletic ability, all the talent in the world don’t win you nothing?

“I’ve been around it, I’ve seen it, I’ve seen Portland when they were the most talented team in basketball. It never resulted in a ring.

“I’ve seen it when other teams were supposed to knock us out because they had all the talent, but it meant nothing.

“[Utah], the reason they’re so good is because they play hard, they play together, they play smart. If we ever understand that, we will be the champs some day. Until we understand that, we can’t win it all. We think we’re just going to show up. That’s not enough. That’s not enough when you’re going for a world championship.”

If these Lakers get it, they’ll get a banner of their own. For now the six banners sit there, looking a little bit older, a little bit angrier, waiting for someone to join them.